A Moment of Weakness
by TheEvilPeaches
Summary: Ivy watches as Rachel slowly crumbles after Kisten's death. She also watches, bitterly of course, as Trent Kalamack makes things worse. Trent/Rachel nonlinear fic.
1. One Red Rose

**AN: **This is going to be a nonlinear fanfic. Aka, that means that not all events are going to be in order of occurrence. In fact, this chapter is almost the end. Now, you just have to work your way back to find out what happened. This is a Trent/Rachel fic- love it or leave it!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own these characters, Kim Harrison does.

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The cold autumn air blew dead, brown leaves onto the obsidian casket. The grey sky above reflected the grief and misery of the gathered people (and pixies!) below. The soft sound of weeping echoed in the empty air.

Ivy stared blankly at the piece of wood that held her most beloved friend, Rachel, who had now passed on. She closed her eyes tightly, fighting down the pain and misery that was threatening to overthrow her normal calm.

Jenks sat upon Ivy's shoulder, moping. His wings were a depressed dark blue, twitching unhappily. "She should have never gone alone, Ivy. Why didn't she take better care of herself?"

Ivy shook her head. "I don't know, Jenks. I just don't know. I don't want to think about it right now, ok?" She knew her voice was tight, strained.

She glanced over at Rachel's parents, her mom holding on to Donald tightly, sobbing into his shoulder. Takata himself looked like he was choking down his tears, much like Ivy.

It was the sudden sound of a car that made Ivy turn around. She felt her face turn twist in anger. There, at the gates of the cemetery, was a black limo, which could mean only one thing; Trent had come to the funeral.

Jonathon raced around the limo to the rear door and opened it and Ivy watched as a highly polished shoe made its first step out of the car. The other shoe followed, and then Trent's blonde head was out for all to see.

Ivy noted the solemn black jacket he wore over his clothing; he had dressed down for the occasion. How considerate of him. She watched his face as he stepped onto the cemetery soil, watching his slow measured steps as he approached the small crowd. His face was drawn, unusually so.

There were dark circles around his green eyes, which also happened to be bloodshot. Ivy frowned; _what _in Turn was he _doing _here? He walked silently to an open spot beside the coffin, standing by himself. He looked lost and for once completely unsure of himself.

Ivy's vampire nose told her that tears had already been shed before this appearance.

She sniffed the air again, completely sure she was smelling things wrong. She sighed, knowing that it was entirely possible that he had cried; who was she to decide what Trent had done before showing his elf ass at Rachel's funeral?

While the casket was being lowered into the grave, some of the gathered people came forward to throw a flower or two in with the casket. When there was less people surrounding the grave, Trent stepped forward and pulled out three roses, two yellow, and one, to Ivy's shock, was red.

When the crowd began to thin, Trent remained standing over the grave sullenly. He reminded Ivy of a pouting child, a child who had been denied their right to a toy. She walked over to him, her feet making no noise upon the grass.

Trent started when a soft, sibilant voice spoke from somewhere behind him. "So, the infamous Trent Kalamack has graced us with his presence. To what do we owe this honor?"

He turned slowly, looking at Ivy with an arrogance that had not been present before. He smoothed a hand over his hair and attempted to look at her haughtily. It was a bad attempt on his part. Ivy could see the exhaustion hanging like a cloud in his forest green eyes.

"I…I came to say goodbye. Is that a crime?"

Ivy felt one of her eyebrows raise, amused. Trent Kalamack stuttering? What a sound to hear. It almost made her day. Almost. "There is no reason for you to be here. How about you take your elf ass out those cemetery gates and never look back? She wasn't your friend, Kalamack, you don't need to pretend she was."

His eyes became flint cold upon her face. "She was one of the few people I ever counted on to be there for me. She may not have supported anything that I have done or what I do, but knowing she was there to help was all that mattered. She did her job well."

Ivy sneered. "Was that all she was to you? A job well done?"

His green eyes were piercing. "No, she's the person who saw me through. She helped make my ends meet."

He stepped closer to Ivy so that they were nearly nose to nose. She could smell his anger at her, and his anger at Rachel…his anger at Rachel for leaving. Ivy noted the absence of cologne. "As I said," Ivy replied, "she helped you get the job done."

Trent's ears went slightly red. His voice dropped to a vehement hiss. "Don't ever pretend you know what she was to me!"

Ivy watched his retreating back, the stiff lilt to his gait. "It's true that I don't know, but I do have an idea." She whispered to no one.

There was a pause, and then Ivy decided to announce her knowledge of what had happened a few nights before Rachel went on the suicidal mission that got her killed. "That night she came home, Trent."

She watched in cold satisfaction as he tensed, pausing his stride.

"I could smell you all over her."

His hands clenched into fists, his body shaking furiously. She saw his eyes grow dark with grief momentarily. He spun on his heel quickly so that she could not analyze his reaction any further and ignored the comment. Ivy smiled to herself; he had been beating himself up mentally.

After all, he was the reason that Rachel was dead.

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**AN: **Chapter 2 is already done- no worries! Just let me know what you thought of this! And I'm sorry I knocked Rachel off, I love her to death! She will be back (in the past) next chapter!


	2. What Happened?

She walked in the door dripping wet, but even the rain on her face couldn't hide the scent of her tears.

It was late, about one in the morning. The storm outside had been raging on for hours and Ivy's mind had been raging through every terrible possibility. Nothing could have prepared her for Rachel crying.

The vampire stayed in her place, lying on the couch, content to just listen and wait for Rachel. However, after a few minutes passed by, Ivy discovered that Rachel didn't intend to make her way upstairs at any time soon.

What happened?

Enough waiting. "Rachel?" She called out.

There was a thud and a muffled curse word. "Ivy? You're still up?"

Ivy rolled her eyes and called out, "Obviously. Why don't you come in here?"

_Yeah, come up and here and tell me what's been going on, Rachel. What were you doing at his house this late at night?_

Ivy could feel Rachel pausing, knew that she was right outside of the room. There was a soft sigh and in trudged the sopping red head. Ivy's eyes widened slightly at her appearance.

Her hair was a frizzy mess, which she knew would have driven Rachel crazy had she not been in this condition….whatever this condition was. The slight amount of makeup that Ivy knew she had been wearing before she left was gone.

And it wasn't gone, as in running down Rachel's wet face. It was just….gone.

Ivy watched Rachel bend over to take her boots off, noting how her eyes were still slightly red. _What happened?_ It was sitting on the tip of Ivy's tongue.

"So," Ivy started, "what did the elf bastard want?"

Something in Rachel's eyes flickered briefly. "He has a job for me," She uttered softly.

Ivy's lip curled in disgust. "I thought you weren't going to work for him."

Rachel snorted. "Well, duh. It's only a run. It pays the rent."

Ivy still didn't understand something. "So, if he only wanted to discuss a run with you, why were you there for so long? I could have picked you up or something."

Rachel swept into the room and looked at Ivy with a…wary look in her eyes. She sat down on a chair not too far from Ivy, looking exhausted. "David picked me up."

Ivy sneered. "The elf couldn't drive you home? What's up with that?"

_What did he do to you?_

Rachel stood up abruptly. "I'm really tired, Ivy. As much as I'm enjoying this conversation, I really want to go to bed. Goodnight."

She passed Ivy on her way to her room and it was then that Ivy got a whiff of Rachel. Her eyes narrowed dangerously. Rachel's usual scent masking perfume had worn off, and not only that, but a different scent covered her like a blanket.

Trent. Fucking. Kalamack.

Ivy felt like dragging the witch back into the room, felt like yelling at her for being so stupid, felt like telling her that it actually hurt. However, she didn't do any of these things. She simply closed her eyes and inhaled deeply.

Deciding that staying up and brooding about it would do nothing, Ivy walked to her room, passing Rachel's. The fucking scent of Trent was so strong that, for all Ivy knew, he could have been in the room with Rachel at that very moment.

There was no mistaking what had gone on.

All Ivy didn't understand was why Rachel was crying. She wasn't sure that she even wanted to know, because that would mean bringing up the subject of Trent and Rachel. Together. In bed.

Taking a deep breath, Ivy poked her head in Rachel's door. Rachel had just taken her shirt off and was simply in her bra. Ivy was in no mood to even care. "I'm going to go out Rachel. Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm great, Ivy. Just. Great." Rachel replied, her voice hollow.

There was no mistaking the large, red marks marring her chest.

_Why did you let him?_

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_**AN: **_Short and sweet- I know :)

I'm sorry it took awhile to update, my computer decided it wanted to fail at booting for about a week. Anyway, I hope you liked the update, let me know what you think of it!


	3. Say Anything

She pulled out her phone, barely covering it from the rain as she dialed the only number she could think of. She stood there, listening to the ring replaying in her ear, desperately hoping someone, anyone would pick up.

As her nerves reached breaking point, someone finally answered. There was the sound of bed sheets rustling and then a husky, sleep ridden whisper. "Rachel?"

"Hey David, it's me. I…I was wondering if, if you could come and pick me up," Rachel said, her voice breaking every other word.

She hated how weak she sounded.

There was a pause on the other line. "Rachel….are you alright?"

She breathed in slowly. "I will be once you get here."

"Rachel, it's two in the morning!"

"Please! I'll never ask you for anything ever again if you get me the hell out of here!"

David listened to the sound of her voice and knew something was wrong. Rachel didn't act this way, and she sure as hell didn't call him up early in the morning practically begging him to come and rescue her. "Where is 'here'?"

He heard her take a deep breath. She was stalling, he knew that much. So he repeated his question, forcing her to answer. "I'm…I'm at Trent's."

Before David could even utter a gasp, she continued on nervously. "I mean, I'm at the front gates, the ones in front of the drive up to his house, you know the ones? I mean I hope you do because I really don't have a method of transporta-"

"Rachel, stop! You're babbling. It's ok, I'm coming to get you. Let me just get some clothes on-"

"Oh no! You aren't….with someone are you? I didn't interrupt anything did?"

David would have laughed if the situation weren't so odd. "No Rachel, I sleep naked. I thought you knew that by now."

That got her to laugh. It sounded so much better than the tone of her broken, nerve wracked voice. Anything sounded better than that, and David was afraid of what could have happened to Rachel to make her sound like that.

"How on earth would I know that David? I don't sleep with you!"

He smiled, rolling out of bed. "So true, Rache, so true. So, uh, I'm on my way now, just stay there."

"Yeah, I'm not going anywhere," he heard her mutter mutinously.

He bade her goodbye, hanging up the phone. David pulled on some clothes and wiped the sleep from his eyes. Pulling on his coat he strode to his car and left driving as fast as he could. The weather was awful and the rain was pouring down hard. Rachel must be freezing her ass off right about now, he mused darkly.

As he peered into the dark, he thought about why he was driving to Trent's. Why? Why was Rachel there? Come to think of it, why was she there at this hour? It was odd, and the fact that she didn't have a car bothered him. That most likely meant that Trent had picked her up.

But then why didn't he bring her home? Wasn't Trent a gentleman of some sort? From what David had seen of the man, he didn't like him, but it didn't mean that Trent didn't have any form of manners. What had Trent's father used all that money on for anyway that he couldn't have bought his son some manner lessons? Had he spent it on his hair? His clothes? Because clearly Trent was missing something in the proper etiquette area.

After about maybe twenty minutes of speed driving, David knew it was time to keep an eye out for Rachel's form. It was hard to see anything besides the road, so he slowed down, waiting for his headlights to fall across her shape. When the large gates of the Kalamack estate came into his view, he stopped the car.

Throwing the door open he called out for her. "Rachel! Rachel where the hell are you? Get your witch ass over here!"

He was getting soaked, and it slightly miffed him but finding Rachel was more important. He could bitch her out later for dragging him out here. Walking towards the gates, he found her form crouched on the ground, back against the stone gate. David blinked, almost not believing that he had found her.

"Rachel," he whispered sadly.

She was sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest, arms holding her legs in place. She raised her head up off of her knees and looked at him blankly. "Rachel," David said again, "let's go."

She nodded, her hair plastered to her head. David held out his hand and helped her back to the passenger side of his car. After he had settled her in, he reached over her body to buckle her in but she pushed him away, her green eyes flashing with a familiar irritation. "I asked you to pick me up, not buckle me in! I'm not helpless!"

David smiled. "There's my girl."

As he shut the car door, he turned and looked at the Kalamack estate, looming ominously above them both. What were they doing here, he and Rachel? David should have never had to come out here to pick Rachel up. Something was wrong….and it reeked of Kalamack.

David's lips formed a tight line. Reeked of Kalamack. Why did that thought bother him?

He got in the car beside Rachel and before he could say anything, he noticed the smell instantly. His keen sense of smell (aka his doggy senses) alerted him to a third scent in the car. There was himself, Rachel, and, well, Trent.

Rachel's eyes were on his face, and a horrified look crossed her face as she noticed his nostrils flare. "Rachel," he began, but she didn't give him the chance to speak.

"Don't say it! Don't say anything!" She cried out in an uncharacteristic manner.

They drove in an awkward silence; David trying to figure out what the hell was going on and Rachel trying to forget the hell she created for herself. Rachel felt sick and disgusted, knowing that David could smell just about everything that had happened a little over an hour ago.

She was disgusted by herself. She couldn't…she couldn't forget it….

"Say anything, I don't care what. Just talk to me." She said hurriedly.

David glanced at her quickly. "Yesterday, there was this girl, and yes, she was a were…."

The atmosphere settled as they drove, but the question still remained at the back of David's head as he helped her to the door of her house when they arrived.

_Rachel, I thought you didn't mess with Trent Kalamack anymore. Why were you there?_

Turning on the porch light, Rachel turned and grinned at David. "Hey, thanks for the lift. I hope everything works out with that were chick of yours."

David didn't grin back. "Rachel, are you sure you are alright?"

The grin dropped off her face and her eyes became dull. David looked at her full form, taking in her sopping clothes, her frazzled hair. Her emotionless face and ashamed eyes.

He looked her in the eye and even though she said nothing, he heard her clearly.

_No, David. I'm not ok.

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**AN:**Thank you all for your awesome reviews! I love them soooo much!

Anyway, as you can tell this chapter clearly happened before the last chapter. Does that put your brain in a frazzle? I hope so :P


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